It’s always exciting to discover a new-to-me chocolate maker and this one, Luisa Abram’s, is particularly poignant given its links to the Brazilian Amazon. Although Luisa’s name is on the packaging, it’s a small, family affair. They use micro-lot wild cacao from the Amazon rainforest and it’s made into chocolate in São Paolo.
Each bar is made from beans harvested by riverside communities and each river gives the cocoa bean, ergo the chocolate, its unique profile. It’s rare I like every chocolate I taste in a range, but I did here (with the possible exception of the Dark Coconut Milkwhich is perfectly fine but coconut milk chocolate has yet to speak to me in any meaningful way).
My favourite was the Rio Cassiporé from the Cassiporé river, an 81% cacao and a truly beautiful chocolate; very dark but maintaining a really welcoming profile is the only way I can describe it. You should definitely try it (all the bars are £6.95/80g).
My second favourite is the 42% milk Rio Purus (Purus river region, hope you’re getting the idea). It won gold at the Academy of Chocolate Awards two years ago with good reason, a really classy milk. What a treat this would be for someone who loves milk chocolate. The Rio Tocantins 52% is more cocoa bite than creamy – incredible what a different bean and an extra 10% of it can give you, but perfect if you don’t like your milks too, well, milky (which is usually me, but the Rio Purus just won me over).
Finally, if you like dark chocolate with inclusions try the 70% studded with cupuaçu, a tropical rainforest fruit and related to the cocoa tree – the candied studs taste like a cross between pineapple, lychee and melon.
Follow Annalisa on Twitter @AnnalisaB
